The Memory Box
by I'm-So-Tape
Summary: As Emily shuffles through picture after picture, she begins to realize that life without JJ is no life at all.


**A/N: **This is my first Criminal Minds story so I'm sorry if I messed something up, or got the characters wrong, but hey you gotta start somewhere.

* * *

Emily Prentiss hadn't expected this to happen. In fact she was so sure that it _wouldn't_ that she'd bet her life on it. But it did happen and now she has to live with the consequences for years and years to come. Who would've thought Strauss would have taken it that far? For 2 years they proved that they could effectively handle both work and their personal lives, while not having them cross. _2 years_, they hid it, 2 years the rest of the team had no clue that their resident, straight as straight can get, woman, Jennifer "JJ" Jareau, was hooking up with, emotionally guarded, Emily Prentiss. Yes they shouldn't have hid it for that long, should've come clean when they first founded their relationship, but that doesn't deserve the severity of the punishment they got.

Emily knew as soon as Strauss had called her into her office that it wasn't good. It never was good. But she was not prepared for the offer that was given to her.

"_Break off the relationship you have with Miss Jareau, or both of you will be fired." The answer wasn't immediate. Emily's first gut reaction was to say no, she wouldn't, couldn't do that. The look the older blonde was giving her though, it made her think otherwise._

_So that night when Emily quietly drove herself and JJ home, to their son, to their home, the brunette profiler could not think of anything else but the "offer" that was given to her, if you could even call it that._

"_What is it Em? You've been weirdly quiet all day." The brunette offered a fake smile, one she knew her girlfriend would see through in a heartbeat._

"_I'm fine."_

"_Don't try and push me out Emily. I've been with you long enough to know when something's wrong." Emily gave a sigh as she put her SUV into park in front of their house._

"_I'll talk to you later about it, but for now, can we just go in there and have dinner with Henry." The sheer amount of plea that was in the profiler's voice was so unlike her that JJ dropped whatever it was she was going to say, and instead took her pale hand in her own and walked through their front door._

Since that moment things have changed. For Emily, for JJ, for Henry, and even for the team. Emily gave a quiet sigh as she tried her hardest to hold back the tears that threatened to take control of her.

She moved around the room that used to be called theirs, as fast as she could, grabbing things that belonged to her before throwing them into the open box sitting on thei-JJ's bed. She didn't have a lot left in the bedroom, most of it was JJ's, but there were a few things such as a few left over clothes that were misplaced in the sorting, and a few pictures that JJ said she could have. But the biggest thing Emily came back into the room for was an old cardboard box that had collected a bit of dust from the time spent under the bed.

As the tall brunette slide it out from its resting place, she wiped at the dust covering the lid before gently, as to not disturb the contents of the box, lifting it off. What was inside the box caused Emily to catch her breath as a sudden wave of emotions flooded her. She lifted herself from the wood floor beneath her before sitting back down on the bed.

In the box were memories that Emily had began to collect over the years. Most of it was pictures, pictures of herself in different places, with different people, but most of herself and the blonde. Or herself, the blonde, and another, smaller, blonde boy. It was these memories that Emily silently dreaded going through. There was a reason why the box was lightly marked 'Emily + JJ.'

The first picture Emily managed to dig out from the box was slightly bent at one of the corners, but still held the true meaning of the photo. It was her and JJ's first kiss, captured by none other than Penelope Garcia. Penelope, along with Derek Morgan, were the first, and only people to learn of the two women's relationship. In fact, it was at their hand that this photo and their first kiss came to be.

"_You know she's gay right?" The blonde media liaison sighed as she twirled her straw inside some insane drink Garcia had ordered for her._

"_Yeah I know she is Penelope I just…I don't know."_

"_You seriously need to ask her out." Came Morgan's lightly laughing voice._

"_I can't do that." The dark man scoffed at this, before leaning against the bar while resting his weight on his elbow._

"_And why is that?"_

"_Well for one she's straight. And two, she'd never go for someone like me, and three she's my best friend. I'm not going to lose that over some silly crush." The brunette profiler took a quick swig of the beer that was placed in her hand before walking back towards the table where the rest of their friends were seated._

"_I think this is a little more than some 'silly crush'." The dark profiler teased._

"_It doesn't matter Morgan. It's not going to happen."_

_Unknown to JJ and Emily, Penelope and Derek had quietly snuck off to put their plan into action. They knew they shouldn't be meddling with their lives, and they should come to the conclusion that they're in love with each other for themselves, but they have had enough time to do that and all that it's getting them is absolutely nowhere._

"_Here you are my lovely ladies." Garcia had said as she placed yet another drink in front of both JJ and Emily._

"_Thanks for the drink Garcia, but I think I'm just going to-" Before Emily could even get out of her chair to put her jacket on, Garcia was standing behind her and pushing her back into her chair._

"_Nu uh don't even think about taking off on us now. We're just getting started." If JJ hadn't been there with all her beauty, and always knee buckling smile, Emily was sure she would've caught onto the wink that Garcia had sent Morgan._

_The time spent in the bar was far longer than any of them had spent in a long time, something JJ was silently grateful for. She hadn't had time to just…relax and kick back with her friends over a nice cold beer._

"_You know if I didn't know any better I'd say you were trying to get us drunk." JJ had said when Morgan returned with their next round of drinks._

"_What? Me get you two drunk? Now why on earth would I do such a thing?" If it wasn't the sarcasm dripping out of his mouth, then it was the light twinkle in his eye that gave him away._

"_I don't know but whatever you have up your sleeves, keep it there." Morgan exchanged an unspoken glance with Garcia before standing and offering his hand to the outgoing blonde._

"_Would you care to dance Miss?" Garcia smirked but easily slipped her hand into his._

"_Why I would love to dance with you."_

_As soon as they made it to the dance floor, Emily had a sudden understanding of what her two friends may be up to._

"_So….how are things going with you and Henry?" The blonde nodded across from her._

"_We're doing good. He keeps asking when his 'Aunt Emmy' is coming back over." The thought of the blonde boy asking for her, had brought a true smile to the normally guarded woman's face._

"_I guess I'll have to come over soon then won't I." _

"_You defiantly will have to do that."_

_The silence that surrounded them was neither awkward nor comfortable. It was a silence that Emily usually associated with meeting new people, and having to be alone with them. But now, with the weird silence with JJ, it felt….odd. It shouldn't be like this between friends._

"_Would you like to dance?" The question had flown out of her mouth before she could even comprehend what she was thinking._

"_Sure." JJ flashed her that smile again before standing from her chair._

_With a hand placed to the small of the blonde's back, Emily lead them to the middle of the dance floor where they found Morgan and Garcia, but just as they were about to get into the rhythm of the upbeat song, it changed._

"_Let's slow this one down." Emily silently cursed her luck of coming out here when a slow song was coming on. She turned to ask JJ if she wanted to go sit back down, but the blonde was already throwing her arms around her neck._

"_I haven't slow danced in…well….forever." The light laugh that flowed from the media liaison never failed to bring a smile to the dark haired profiler._

"_It's a nice change from all the jumping music." She had said while taking a step closer to the still slightly tense woman._

"_I never was one for much dancing, so slow dancing is really all I know." Emily quietly confessed as she moved her arms around a petite waist._

"_Kiss her." Red began to tint usually pale cheeks upon hearing Morgan's rather loud whisper._

"_What?" The blonde head that had been resting comfortably against her shoulder suddenly rose._

"_N-nothing." _

"_I could've sworn he said kiss her." Blue eyes looked over to find Morgan and Garcia doing a pretty poor job at eavesdropping._

"_N-no he didn't." JJ couldn't help but smile at the normally calm and collected Emily Prentiss, now stuttering._

"_I think he did." The brunette quickly shook her head._

"_Emily." Chocolate eyes dropped down to met blue._

"_Will you kiss me already?" JJ felt the woman tense, but it was no or never, so with a quick shove to the back of her neck, JJ's lips were firmly pressed against Emily's._

_It wasn't heated, it wasn't soft, but it was full of love, something JJ and Emily soon found themselves lost in. After coming out of the semi shock that she was in, Emily tightened her hold on the media liaison, and deepened the kiss, while, unknown to them; Garcia stepped in with a camera pointed directly at them._

"_Aww it's about damn time!"_

A drop of water splashed against the smooth surface of the picture, bringing Emily out of memory lane, and back into reality. With a quick wipe to her cheeks, Emily set the picture aside and moved onto the next one.

The picture was of Henry by himself, but it wasn't the picture that made a smile cross the agent's face. The picture was taken at the zoo, where Henry was leaning over the railing to touch one of the llamas that had ventured away from the others to sniff at the boy's hand. It was also the first time Henry was alone with Emily since she and JJ had started dating.

"_Ok what do you wanna see last Champ?" The blonde boy put a finger to his chin, thinking about where to go last._

"_Ooooh let's go to ta petting ones." Emily offered him a smile as she let him drag her towards the petting part of the zoo. It was no surprise Henry had asked to come here last; he had been the most excited for this part._

"_Look Emmy look! It's a Wama!" Emily wasn't certain what Henry's fascination with llamas was about, but with the look of pure excitement and child wonder, she didn't hesitate to let him go up to it, hand stretched out all the way._

"_Careful Henry they spit." Her words fell on deaf ears as he leaned over the wooden fence, stretching out as far as he could reach to touch the llama that was hesitant to come closer to the hand reaching for it._

_Emily took this time to reach into her pocket for the camera JJ had thrust at her on her way out the door. She brought it up only to quickly snap off a picture. The llama Henry was reaching for seemed to sense the innocence he offered and stepped forward to allow Henry's hand to run through its short fur. Emily got a quick snap shot of that as well._

When she had returned that day, the sun had long set, and it was way past Henry's bed time, which was probably the reason why Emily had to carry him up to their house and to his bed where he went to sleep without so much as a whisper. JJ had needed the time for herself, and Emily was happy to have given it to her.

Shifting around some photos of her with friends, and places she had been she found another photo that she thought she had lost, or gave to the blonde.

It was Christmas when the next photo was taken. It was up at JJ's parent's house in fact. It was their first Christmas together, all three of them, as a family.

The memory that sprung upon her caused another wave of tears to spring to her eyes, but she held them at bay as the memory flashed through her mind.

"_You'll be fine, besides you already met my parents." JJ had said as she practically dragged the reluctant agent behind her._

"_Yeah but not as your girlfriend." Once the sigh reached Emily's ears, she knew she was going to get an earful._

"_Emily they love you, they love that we're together, and they love that you get along with Henry so well." It wasn't the earful she was expecting, but it was enough to get the profiler moving on her own feet._

"_Emily, dear it's been too long." Was said before she was engulfed in a pair of strong arms, that she's come to know as no other than Jane Jareau._

"_Sorry about that, work hasn't allowed us very much time off." Jane gave a kind smile that Emily couldn't help but return._

"_Now that you two are here, we can begin Christmas."_

_In true Jareau fashion, a dinner with all the family, including JJ's sister Jamie, and brother Tyler, was followed by the opening of presents where all the five kids opened theirs first, then the adults. But seeing as how the adults already exchanged gifts earlier, they went to their traditional watching of 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' before the kids passed out for the night._

_While 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' was playing in the living room, Emily quietly snuck out from under Henry to find is other mommy. It wasn't a hard search, seeing as how something delicious was wafting out of the kitchen._

"_Mmm something smells good." Emily whispered in a lightly tanned ear after she wrapped her arms around the blonde's waist._

"_Mom's making pie and I'm supposed to make sure it doesn't burn." JJ had said back, arms crossed, as she stared at the oven._

"_Well you're doing a wonderful job." The arms that were crossed began to unwind themselves when a hot mouth began trailing kisses down her neck._

"_Jenny you're gonna have to show me how to-oh I'm sorry." Upon hearing Jane enter the kitchen Emily's first gut reaction was to pull back out of the embrace, but hands where holding her arms around the blonde._

"_It's ok mom, what did you need."_

"_It's nothing for now, but turn towards me, I need a picture of you two." Jane held up the camera, turning it on in the process._

_JJ gave a small sigh before turning herself and Emily to face her mother. Emily easily placed her head on the blonde's shoulder, as she brought the blonde closer to her body, causing a smile to form across the media liaison's face._

"_Aww you're just too cute."_

Emily was going to miss the days spent at the Jareau's place. They were the only people Emily had even close to calling her family, besides her friends at the BAU, but even they didn't compare to the feeling she got when welcomed in at the Jareau household.

The picture was put aside with the rest. And after combing through picture after picture of either her, or her and JJ, Emily dumped the rest of the box onto the bed, where one last lone picture fell to the top of the pile.

It was dated only a few weeks before all this happened, all three of their names written in JJ's scratched handwriting. Emily reached a hesitant hand out to pick it up, not knowing exactly what picture it may be.

It was a photo of JJ holding Henry while Emily came up and circled them in her arms. Mirrored laughs were etched into Henry and JJ's face, while Emily had on the biggest smile she had ever seen in any of the photos she had. This picture was the crack that broke the damn Emily Prentiss had set up.

_JJ had been chasing Henry around the house, when he had suddenly ran into the living room, hiding behind his Aunt Penelope._

"_Stop her Aunt Pen! She gonna twickle me!" Garcia couldn't help but laugh as a crouching JJ came into the room._

"_Oh where or where could Henry be? I just don't know!" Henry giggle behind the blonde technical analyst, oblivious to the fact his mom knew exactly where he was at._

"_Wait I hear giggling. There he is!" Henry took off running down the hall again, only to stop upon seeing his second mommy come out of the bedroom._

"_And where are you going in such a hurry?"_

"_Mommy's trying to twickle me!" A smirk began to dance its way onto Emily's face as she leaned down to become level with the young boy._

"_Oh really. Was it something like…..this!" She suddenly reached out and began tickling the boy's stomach, creating him to nearly scream in laughter. She eased up enough for him to turn around only to run straight into JJ's arms._

"_Gotcha!" Henry tried kicking his way out, but JJ held on tighter as she walked back into the living room, Emily following closely behind her._

"_Momma stop her!" Emily gave a light laugh as she came up behind JJ, arms circling around not only her but Henry as well._

"_Aww everyone look up at me." As soon as three pairs of eyes looked up, still caught in their laughs, Garcia snapped off the moment._

The front door opening then closing with a bang caused Emily to quickly put all the pictures back in the box before wiping away any traces of tears.

"I want Momma back." Came Henry's voice from down the hall, and it wasn't long until JJ's tired voice also reached the room.

"I know buddy." That's when Emily made herself known. After leaving the closed box onto the bed, she quietly made her way into the living room where JJ was putting stuff away in the kitchen, and Henry was sitting on the couch, a frown clearly etched into his face even though he was watching his favorite show, Spongebob.

"Momma!" At her son's excited scream JJ immediately turned around to find Henry running up to an equally tired Emily.

"Hey Champ." His tiny arms wound themselves around her neck in a tight hug, one that Emily didn't take a second to return.

"I missed you Momma, when are you coming home?" Not only did Emily's heart break at the question asked of her, but JJ's did as well.

"I don't know yet, but why don't you go play in your room for a little so me and your mom can talk." As she tried to set him down, his grip only tightened on her.

"No I don't wanna!" Emily gave a sigh before prying the arms off.

"Don't worry I'll come back up and see you."

"Promise?" He stuck out his little pinky, waiting for her to stick out hers as well.

"Promise." He didn't wait long for her pinky to link with his.

It was entirely to quiet after Henry left. It was almost awkwardly quiet.

"What are you doing here?" Came JJ's question, even though her back was still turned to the agent.

"I was getting the rest of my things and I guess I just lost track of time." It was quiet again. Emily hated it when it was this quiet between them.

"JJ…." She didn't say or do anything, making Emily take a deep breath before taking a few steps towards the kitchen.

"Jennifer." Upon hearing her full name come from Emily, JJ turned to look at her, tears filling her blue eyes.

"I miss you Em." That was all that was needed for Emily, who quickly closed the space between them and engulfed the blonde liaison in a hug that allowed JJ's tears to quietly stream down her tan cheeks.

"I don't care anymore. I need you in my life, and if that means giving up my job at the BAU then so be it." JJ pulled back from the hug to stare into those dark eyes she's fell in love with time after time again.

"Em…do you really mean that?" When a small smile found its way to the profiler's lips, JJ knew for certain she was being serious.

"Yes. I do." It took JJ half a second to react. Throwing her arms around a pale neck and kissing those lips she's missed so much, only added to the tears, only this time they fell out of happiness.

But it would turn out that the day Emily strode into the BAU fully ready to give it all up for the woman she loved, was the same day Aaron Hotchner had walked into Strauss' office, demanding to her that Agent Prentiss, and Agent Jareau are both fully capable of handling an inter-office relationship, while keeping it professional in the work area.

"Prentiss, Jareau, my office." No longer than five minutes after Emily and JJ had walked into the BAU holding each other's hands, did they get called into the office of their Section Chief Director, Erin Strauss.

They shared a glance before walking down the hall to her office, heads held high.

"Ma'am the offer you made me earlier I wish to decline it and offer a new one." The older blonde held up a hand, effectively cutting off whatever Emily had prepared to say.

"It has come to my intention that while it wasn't right for you two to hide your relationship for two years, you still managed to keep it professional." Brown met blue.

"Ma'am?" With a sigh Strauss flicked her wrist at them.

"You may continue with your relationship, as long as it doesn't affect your work." The biggest smile JJ had felt in awhile worked its way up.

"Thank you ma'am." Was all JJ said before pulling Emily out of her office.

"Prentiss, Jareau." Only to get stopped by their Unit Chief.

"Yes Hotch?" Once the two agents stepped foot in his office, a very uncharacteristic smile broke across his face.

"Welcome back."

"Good to be back."

The Memory Box


End file.
